Leonard Eugene Boyle, OP (13 November 1923 - 25 October 1999) was an Irish and

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scholar in medieval studies and

palaeography Palaeography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, UK) or paleography (American and British English spelling differences#ae and oe, US) (ultimately from , , 'old', and , , 'to write') is the study and academic disciplin ...

. He was the first Irish and North American Prefect of the

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from 1984 to 1997.

Early life

Boyle was born in

County Donegal County Donegal ( ; ) is a Counties of Ireland, county of the Republic of Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Ulster and is the northernmost county of Ireland. The county mostly borders Northern Ireland, sharing only a small b ...

, Ireland. He entered the

Dominican Order The Order of Preachers (, abbreviated OP), commonly known as the Dominican Order, is a Catholic Church, Catholic mendicant order of pontifical right that was founded in France by a Castilians, Castilian priest named Saint Dominic, Dominic de Gu ...

in 1943 and was ordained a priest in 1949. He received his doctorate at

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Career

Boyle served as Professor of Latin Paleography and History of Medieval Theology at the Pontifical University of St. Thomas Aquinas in Rome from 1956 to 1961. He taught at the Pontifical Institute of Mediaeval Studies and the Centre for Medieval Studies at the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

from 1961 to 1984. In 1984 he was appointed

Prefect Prefect (from the Latin ''praefectus'', substantive adjectival form of ''praeficere'': "put in front", meaning in charge) is a magisterial title of varying definition, but essentially refers to the leader of an administrative area. A prefect' ...

of the Vatican Library by Pope

John Paul II Pope John Paul II (born Karol Józef Wojtyła; 18 May 19202 April 2005) was head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City State from 16 October 1978 until Death and funeral of Pope John Paul II, his death in 2005. In his you ...

. Boyle set about the digitization of the library's many manuscripts. Boyle employed women for the first time as part of the library's staff. In 1987, he was made an Officer of the

Order of Canada The Order of Canada () is a Canadian state order, national order and the second-highest Award, honour for merit in the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, after the Order of Merit. To coincide with the Canadian Centennial, ce ...

. In 1997, he was involved in a lawsuit regarding the legality of reproductions of Vatican manuscripts. Boyle was exonerated, but the case took its toll on his health. Boyle was living with emphysema and cancer and died on October 19, 1999. He is buried at the San Clemente al Laterano.

References

* Duggan, Anne J., Joan Greatrex, and Brenda Bolton, eds. ''Omnia disce: medieval studies in memory of Leonard Boyle, O.P.'' Aldershot, Hants, England ; Burlington, VT : Ashgate, c2005. * Raftis, J. Ambrose. "Leonard Boyle, O.P. (1923-1999)," ''Mediaeval Studies'' 62 (2000): vii-xxvi. * ''Roma, Magistra Mundi: Itineraria Culturae Medievalis. Mélanges offerts à Père L.E. Boyle à l'occasion de son 75e anniversaire'', edited by Jacqueline HAMESSE (Fédération Internationale des Instituts d'Etudes Médiévales, 10/1-3). Louvain-la-Neuve: Fédération Internationale des Instituts d'Etudes Médiévales, 1998. * Stille, Alexander. ''Letter from Vatican City, Library Privileges,'' The New Yorker, 28 September 1998, p. 43 {{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Leonard 1923 births 1999 deaths 20th-century Irish Roman Catholic priests Christian clergy from County Donegal Canadian Dominicans Canadian medievalists Canadian palaeographers 20th-century Canadian Roman Catholic priests Irish Dominicans Irish medievalists Irish palaeographers Officers of the Order of Canada Irish emigrants to Canada Irish expatriates in the United Kingdom

Early life

Career

References

Further reading